Twilight's Little Machine
by idk97
Summary: Twilight has a new experiment that she wants to test, so she gets Pinkie pie and Spike to help her test it out. Everything seems fine at first but some side effects reveal something more.


**Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony Friendship is Magic (obviously)**

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Twilight Sparkle was walking to Sugarcube Corner like she did every Saturday to go visit her friends over some cake. She couldn't wait to tell them all about her groundbreaking discovery, which she had been working on for about three months now. She could almost imagine all of her friends' reactions perfectly: Rainbow Dash would dismiss it because she wouldn't really care, Applejack congratulating her with a proud smile, Rarity demanding to see it in the most dramatic way possible, Fluttershy quietly complimenting her, and Pinkie… well Pinkie was unpredictable, but one thing was for sure, she would be excited. She trotted down the road saying hello to everypony she saw along the way.

When she got to the shop she pushed open the door to see her bubbly pink friend waiting patiently for her next to a cake that seemed to have been smothered by pink frosting. Twilight had learned just a few weeks ago how much waiting killed Pinkie Pie, much less with a bright pink cake sitting next to her.

"Hi Twilight," Pinkie greeted, "I thought Spike was coming with you?"

Twilight laughed, "No Spike had some errands to run for now, but he might come later. Where is everypony? I'm usually the last one here."

"Oh! Didn't you hear! Flutters and Rarity left for Manehattan yesterday, and Dashie and AJ said they needed some alone time so they went to go see some kind of game out of town."

Twilight smirked, knowing that her friends were probably not going just to get away from Ponyville. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had recently declared they were going out, which didn't really surprise anypony. No pony knew what was happening between Fluttershy and Rarity though. They seemed to be spending a lot of time together but neither was acting secretively, but it was only a matter of time till Rarity's flair for drama revealed something. Either way, as a result, Pinkie and Twilight had been spending an abnormal amount of time together.

"Oh that's too bad, I wanted to show them my new invention."

"Oh oh oh! Can I see?!"

"Of course Pinkie," Twilight laughed, "I was going to show you anyway, but first we better eat this cake."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie agreed.

She jumped up into the air and dove towards the cake mouth open, face first and in one bite the cake was gone. Twilight fell on the floor laughing at Pinkie's enormous appetite and after a few minutes of nonstop laughter they headed towards Twilight's library.

The duo walked up to the library giggling. In the seven minute walk to the library they had somehow gotten on the subject of Applejack and Dash's failure of an attempt to hide their relationship over the past few weeks, and now they were cracking up. Twilight opened the door and called Spike's name to see if he was home, but there was no response. She opened the door to the basement where she kept her invention, and led Pinkie downstairs.

"Sorry Pinkie the lights are out on the stairway, I'll have to use my horn to light the way. Stay close and don't trip."

"Okie dokie lokie." Pinkie said.

They went down the stairs slowly and carefully, taking each step one at a time. Twilight could feel Pinkie's deep breathing on her mane and it really bothered her.

"Pinkie stop breathing so hard!"

"You stop breathing so soft!"

Twilight gave an exasperated sigh and gave up her case. There was no reasoning with Pinkie.

They finally reached the bottom of the stairs and Twilight made a mental note to herself to remember to change to light bulb that lit the staircase so they didn't have another uncomfortable situation like that. She turned the lights on to reveal a small worktable pushed against a wall with various instruments littered around. On the center of the table was just a normal metal box with a bunch of blinking lights and switches. Two tubes were attached to each side of it, which both led to two huge glass containers on opposite sides against the wall, each of which could fit at least two ponies inside.

"What is it Twilight?!" Pinkie asked incredulously.

"I'll show you personally once Spike gets back, but for now I'll explain how it works."

"Aw, but that's booooring."

"Well I'm going to tell you anyway," Twilight started, "This machine is used to fix any minor flaws you think you may have. If you have a character flaw that you know of and would like to fix you can come this metal box right here and place your hoof on top of it. Then use this microphone to tell the machine what about you would like to fix. Then another pony would do the same and you would both go and stand inside opposite glass container. Once everypony is ready I would turn on my machine and each pony's flaw would be swapped with the other."

"That's so cool Twi! So is that why you are waiting for Spike to get back?"

"Exactly Pinkie. Now what do you think is your greatest flaw?" Twilight asked.

"Well, sometimes I think I might be too serious sometimes." Pinkie admitted.

"Are you serious?"

"I just told you that!"

Twilight shuddered at the thought of Pinkie being anymore silly then she already was, "For the sake of Ponyville Pinkie, pick something else."

"Well when I get sad or lonely, I get really, really depressed. Does that work?!"

"You mean like that time we threw you a surprise party and you thought we were avoiding you?"

Pinkie nodded her head. Twilight remembered that day like it was only yesterday. That was the only time she could remember seeing Pinkie sad, "Rainbow Dash told me that you were having a party with a sack of flour and some rocks. If that's true, that sounds perfect for this experiment."

Having their plan set Twilight and Pinkie headed back upstairs to try and see if Spike was back, and sure enough he was there unpacking some groceries that he must of got at the store.

"Oh hey Twilight! Hey Pinkie! Glad to see you; think you could lend me a hand unpacking these groceries?" Spike greeted.

"No time Spike, we are ready for the experiment."

Spike smiled nervously, probably not sure whether to be excited or scared. Twilight grabbed some light bulbs and quickly changed them with the one in the stairway with her magic. The three headed downstairs for the moment of truth, and within a couple minutes they were almost ready.

"Now Spike, what is one area about yourself you'd like to get rid of."

Spike stood pensively as he raised his claw up to his chin in thought, "Maybe I wear my heart on my sleeve too much. You know what I mean? I think maybe expressing your emotions too much can be a bad thing. Sometimes I think Rarity would like me more if I didn't always tell her that."

Twilight thought about it for a second, "That seems like a good one. Alright Spike tell that to the machine and get into your chamber."

Spike did he was told and Pinkie followed. Once everyone was in place Twilight began her countdown, "T minus: ten, nine, eight, … three, two, one!"

Twilight pulled the switch and pressed the appropriate buttons and just like that the experiment was underway. Smoke filled both chambers to the brim and lights blinked everywhere in a seemingly random pattern. Twilight felt the odd urge to do her best mad scientist laugh, but she restrained herself. Once time had reached fifteen seconds she turned off her machine and the experiment was complete.

She went over to Spike's container first to check on the little dragon, because after all he was her responsibility. Once the smoke cleared, she saw Spike standing their completely normal, as if nothing changed, and for a while Twilight thought her experiment was a failure. At the same time Pinkie came out of the other chamber as well.

"Are you two okay?" Twilight asked. Neither were talking and it was beginning to make her think that something went horribly wrong, "Oh no! How do I explain this to everypony?!" Twilight panicked.

"Twilight? Is that you?" Spike called. Twilight felt a wave of relief rush over her as she realized she had not hurt Spike and Pinkie.

"Ya Spike I'm here. Do you feel any different?"

Spike walked up to Twilight closely examining himself, apparently trying to see if he had been effected physically, "Not specifically. What about you Pinkie?"

Pinkie came hoping out of her chamber, same as always, saying she didn't think anything had changed. Twilight couldn't help but feeling disappointed that there was not an immediate response, but she concluded that they probably needed a scenario in which their new characteristics could be demonstrated. It looked like time would tell if Twilight's experiment was a success.

The three of them headed back upstairs all disappointed by their lackluster results. Pinkie left a few minutes later.

"Be sure to tell me if the effects finally kick in." Twilight yelled to her pink friend as she departed.

She closed the door and turned back towards Spike who was back to work sorting the groceries.

"Hey, where's Pinkie?" Spike said noticing the distinct absence of laughter.

"Oh she just left. Didn't she say goodbye to you?"

Spike's face darkened, "Well fine. I didn't want to see her anyway."

"Spike that's such a rude thing to say!"

"Well if she doesn't care about me enough to say goodbye then why should I care about her at all! She's probably never cared about me in her life." Spike concluded.

"Spike eat something. You get cranky when you're hungry. You're just a little dragon."

"Don't disrespect me Twilight!"

"Fine I'll leave you alone for awhile, but in the meantime eat something and get some sleep. I'll be back soon."

With that Twilight left the library, but when she got back several hours later she found the most peculiar scene. Spike was huddled on the floor facing the far back corner of the room talking to a bag of flour, "Twilight is my friend though."

Then in a much lower voice the almost made him seem like a 1930's gangster he said, "Of course she isn't. You ain't got no more friends. It's you versus the world. Real friends would never leave your side."

Twilight got a little closer and realized there was a puddle of tears across the floor, "Spike? Are you okay?"

Spike seemed almost prepared for this exact moment. He jumped back quickly, tears streaming down his face, "What do you care?! YOU'RE NOT MY FRIEND! Friends don't leave each other's side!..."

He trailed off and huddled back into his corner. Twilight suddenly knew why Spike was acting so weird; her experiment was a success. That also meant Mr. and Mrs. Cake were in for a different kind of Pinkie Pie.

She quickly headed out the door, calling out to Spike, "I'll be back to help you in a minute Spike, I've got to go help Pinkie Pie! Just stay put!"

She could hear Spike yell back, "Fine! Just leave!"

What had she done? Why had she ever thought that switching a pony's flaws would be a good thing?! It was just going to create more problems. She could already see Spike was not able to deal with Pinkie's version of depression, and all she could hope for was that Pinkie was doing better with Spike's lovesickness.

Twilight, fearing the worst, rushed over to Sugarcube Corner to check on Pinkie Pie. She burst through the door making Mr. Cake jump and spill a fresh batch of cupcakes.

"Sorry sir! I need to talk to Pinkie right away!"

"It's alright Twilight, just try not to scare me nextime, Pinkie already does enough of that," Mr. Cake joked, "I think she went upstairs a couple hours ago."

Twilight apologized again and thanked him. She dashed upstairs, straight to Pinkie's room, and at first glance it seemed as if Pinkie had been unaffected.

"Pinkie? How are you feeling?"

"Hi Twilight!" Pinkie said rushing up to give her a hug, "I missed you so much!"

Twilight was not sure how to respond, and was puzzled by Pinkie's behavior. She was obviously being affected in some way but this wasn't at all what she expected. She had imagined Pinkie would be making Hearts and Hooves Day Cards for a special somepony, idly obsessing of some stallion, just like Spike acted around Rarity, despite the fact that they had barely passed Nightmare Night. It was getting more and more awkward by the second, but Twilight had no idea what to do.

Attempting to break the silence Twilight finally said, "So Pinkie… how have you been the last few hours?"

Pinkie got a bit closer to Twilight than she appreciated, "To be honest Twilight, I've missed you more than I ever have before."

"Okay… Listen Pinkie, Spike is acting… different back at the library and I need your help to try and get him back to normal. I think it's probably because of my experiment earlier today, but it seems like you are doing better than he is. That being said we need to get you both back to the library, so we can switch back your character traits."

"Oh Twi don't be silly! I feel better than I've ever felt before," Pinkie giggled before adding, "and it's all thanks to you."

"You don't understand Pinkie! I don't know what Spike will do with his new personality, and when I left him he seemed pretty miffed that he was being left alone. We've got to change him back!"

"Geez Twilight lighten up!" she said taking a bite from a cupcake she had seemingly pulled out of thin air, "but if it means that much to you I guess we can go back and see."

Twilight felt a wave of relief pass over her. She thanked Pinkie and they both headed back to the library. At first, Twilight felt relieved that she had not doomed Ponyville and that there was still enough time to fix her mistake, but all hope was lost once they got there they found that Spike was gone.

"No," Twilight exclaimed losing her composure, "No, no, no, no, no! Where did he go!"

"Twilight I think there is something—" Pinkie started.

Twilight ignored her, "Now where would I go if I was Spike?"

"Twilight seriously—"

"Not now Pinkie!"

"I know where he is!"

"Really? Where?"

"He's sad because he doesn't think he has any friends, right? So _obviously_ he probably is at who he considers his best friend's house." Pinkie concluded.

"But I'm his best friend."

"_Obviously_ not," Pinkie said stressing the word obviously to make it sound almost comical.

Twilight thought for a second, "Let's check out Carousel Boutique. Maybe he's so in love with Rarity that he just went there on impulse."

The duo left once again, this time towards Carousel Boutique. Once they got there they opened the door and saw that their suspicions were proven right. Spike was sitting on the floor next to Sweetie Belle while she tried to calm him down. They both looked up and saw them standing at the door, and much to Twilight's surprise Spike did not freak out like before.

"What do you want?" Spike said softly trying not to make eye contact.

"Spike, we're here to switch your personalities back. I don't even know why I designed that stupid machine in the first place, but it had caused nothing but trouble for us all." Twilight explained.

"It's kind of funny," Spike said still not making eye contact, "Your true friends are really revealed when you really need them. Looks like the only person I can really trust is Sweetie Belle. "

"Spike you know that's not true. I will always be there for you, it's just that this time Pinkie needed my help too. "

"Pinkie is more important than me then? Thanks Twi, that makes me feel loads better."

"That's not what I meant."

"I only needed one pony Twi, to be my friend and you weren't there. What does that tell you?!" Spike exclaimed. Twilight could feel the tension rising in the room.

"Spike you know I love you—"

"Not as much as Pinkie! Everypony already knows she loves you! So why don't you just admit that you love her too!"

Twilight heard Pinkie give out a small gasp from behind her. Sweetie Belle punched Spike in the arm with her hoof and told him to shut up. "What? It's not like I'm lying!"

Could that be true? Twilight wasn't necessarily against the idea of a relationship with Pinkie but then again she had never thought about it. It did make sense with all the time they had been spending together, and how Pinkie was always so happy when she was around her. Twilight had always just assumed that was how Pinkie was around everypony, but could it be something more?

Before Twilight could say anything Pinkie spoke up, "He's telling the truth Twilight. I've liked you for awhile now, but whenever it comes to all this mushy gushy stuff I freeze up. I usually like to express myself through jokes, but I can't really use those when asking anypony out." Twilight was stunned, and to be honest, she really didn't know which conversation was more important at this point. Seeing that Twilight wasn't saying anything, Pinkie continued on, "Seeing Dashie and AJ together made me think that I could finally get up my confidence, but I still couldn't. I was about to ask when Flutters and Rarity started spending so much time together, and then we got left alone so much I didn't think it even mattered. I didn't want to risk our friendship, I'm sorry."

Twilight turned her full attention towards Pinkie, but she was too stunned to say anything, so she did the next best thing. Twilight walked up to Pinkie without saying a word and kissed her. Had no idea why she did it, but she was glad she did. This brief moment with Pinkie Pie was the happiest she had ever felt and it seemed like it would of lasted forever if Sweetie Belle wouldn't of yelled out of nowhere, "Are Fluttershy and Rarity dating or something."

Pinkie and Twilight broke apart and burst out laughing at Sweetie Belle's timing.

"C'mon guys. It's time that things got back to normal."

Within about fifteen minutes, the four of them were back in Twilight's testing chamber getting ready to use the machine. Pinkie and Spike took their respective places and Twilight activated the experiment, which once again, filled the room with smoke. As the smoke cleared they stepped out and walked

"Are they… Normal?" Sweetie Belle asked nervously.

"I'm not sure. Let's see for sure." Twilight responded, "Spike do you love Rarity more than anything in the world?"

"No, I'm over her," Spike said as Twilight and Sweetie Belle exchanged nervous glances, "I love Sweetie Belle now!"

Twilight rolled her eyes in amusement and turned towards Pinkie. She hoped that kiss was not , just because Spike's personality had prompted it. She felt compelled to ask, "Nothing has changed right?"

Pinkie giggled, "Nope." Then she yelled, "Last one upstairs is a rotten dragon egg!"

Sweetie Belle and Spike both ran upstairs as fast as they could and Pinkie hopped right alongside with Twilight bringing up the rear. When they were all back upstairs in the library two familiar ponies opened the front door. The pegasus had a cyan coat with a rainbow mane an the earth pony had an orange coat with a blonde mane.

"Ya miss us?" Applejack asked.

"Oh my gosh! You two are home! We have so much to tell you and—" Pinkie started.

"Yes we did." Twilight said stopping Pinkie before she exploded of excitement.

"So how were things here in Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight grabbed Pinkie's hoof and said, "Everything turned out just fine."

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**Today I was really sick and really bored so this is the result.**

**I am trying to get back into writing lately (i haven't really wrote anything I wanted to write in a couple months and no fanfics since September.) I have been really swamped at school and really haven't had time for anything so I took today as my chance to get some writing done. I have started a few things but never ended them and i wasn't about to let this story end up like the rest of them (in my Recycle Bin Folder), so if there are some minor flaws that's probably why.**

**I hope you liked it! Please favorite and review if you liked it!**

**Until next time, see ya!**


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